Welcome to 2024-2025 Cohort of the Union Labor Institute (ULI)

This past July, The Worker Institute’s Labor Leadership Program proudly welcomed the 2024-2025 New York State-AFLCIO/Cornell University’s Union Labor Institute cohort. This year's cohort consists of 30 emerging leaders from the NY State Labor movement, representing various sectors within labor unions and labor justice organizations. The participants come from a diverse range of industries, including education, labor, construction, nail salons, administration, retail, nursing, and medical. The program commenced with a one-week retreat at Cornell University’s Ithaca Campus and will continue throughout the 2024-2025 academic year at different host unions and organizations in New York State, including Albany and Buffalo.

Established in 2001, the New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute (ULI) aims to equip labor and worker-justice leaders to effectively and strategically advance workers' rights. Going beyond traditional leadership training, ULI utilizes a transformational model to foster inclusion and solidarity among participating leaders. This unique, statewide certificate program facilitates the exchange of ideas, acquisition of new tools, and movement-building opportunities among leaders in the New York labor and worker justice movements across multiple unions and sectors.